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Tron Lightcycles, in Real Life

Posted by timothy on Mon Jul 11, 2005 06:18 PM
from the please-be-careful-in-there dept.

Digital_Quartz writes "This is a clever hack, using a laptop and GPS to play the classic Lightcycles game from Tron, using bicycles and a city. The page is a little light on details, but does give the essentials, including screen shots."

+ -

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Tron Lightcycles, in Real Life More

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No thank you (Score:5, Funny)

by nokilli (759129) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:19PM (#13037858)

As I recall, the point to the Tron lightcycle game was to make your opponent crash.

Which means my opponent is trying to make me crash.

I don't need any help in that regard. I can get into accidents all by myself.
- Re:No thank you (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by Coneasfast (690509) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:23PM (#13037882)
  
  the challenge of tron is you are moving at a fast speed, what do you do in this bike situation?
  
  maybe there should be a minimum speed limit? (which means you lose if you get too tired)
  
  maybe a motorbike could be used, although you would need a closed course for safety,
  
  this all seems too much for the real world :/
  
  Parent
  - Re:No thank you (Score:3, Informative)
    
    by Hungus (585181)
    
    According to TFA the server says you are cheating if you do not move for 60 seconds.
  - Re:No thank you (Score:5, Informative)
    
    by interiot (50685) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:53PM (#13038087) Homepage
    
    I've seen variants of Tron that add a Go [wikipedia.org]-like rule... if the other person completely encircles you, you lose. That would encourage the contestants to try to pedal faster than the other guy, which could be pretty entertaining. (this could make teammates and tunnels more interesting as well)
    
    Parent
- - Maybe not (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by MyLongNickName (822545) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:53PM (#13038088) Journal
    
    But you could have the equivilant of a dog's "bark collar". Hit the GPS line and get a couple hundred volts.
    
    Betcha that would make you take it seriously ;)
    
    Parent
exercise is good (Score:5, Funny)

by humankind (704050) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:22PM (#13037878) Journal

Any game that promotes physical activity is a great idea. This is a very clever adaptation that involves exercise, freedom and creativity.

Be thankful they didn't do a real life version of Joust.
- Re:exercise is good (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2005, @06:35PM (#13037967)
  
  Be thankful they didn't do a real life version of Joust.
  
  That was our initial aim but PETA terrorists stole our ostriches. Bastards.
  
  Parent
- Re:exercise is good (Score:2)
  
  by Surt (22457)
  
  They may not have, but i've started a game where I play the blue jouster using my car. I'm sure if they hit me just right with their bikes, i'll lose.
- Re:exercise is good (Score:4, Funny)
  
  by nycbicyclist (869987) on Monday July 11 2005, @07:15PM (#13038215)
  
  "Be thankful they didn't do a real life version of Joust."
  Perhaps because it's been done already:
  
  http://dclxvi.org/chunk/operations/chunk/image/hir es/joust150.jpg [dclxvi.org]
  
  Parent
  - Re:exercise is good (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by nycbicyclist (869987) on Monday July 11 2005, @07:20PM (#13038247)
    
    I have to add that I was a spectator at one of these jousting events last year in NYC. One match-up left the two participants flat on the ground, both unconscious.
    A few minutes later I overheard the following conversation between one of the event organizers and an ambulance medic:
    
    Medic: OK, what happened here?
    
    Organizer: Well, they were jousting and....
    
    Medic: Jousting? Did you say jousting?
    
    Parent
    - Re:exercise is good (Score:4, Funny)
      
      by identity0 (77976) on Tuesday July 12 2005, @04:20AM (#13040382) Journal
      
      Did he end the conversation with, I'm wearing boots of escaping! I'm wearing boots of escaping! [comedycentral.com]??
      
      Parent
- - Re:exercise is good (Score:2, Funny)
    
    by Dorsai42 (738671)
    
    And right after that, Global Thermonuclear War
how about (Score:5, Interesting)

by zephc (225327) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:22PM (#13037880)

you paint one of these little bikes [dodgetomahawk.com] red or blue, and ride around somewhere roomy [saltflats.com].

Hummunah.
- I'd forgotten how cool the Dodge Tomahawk was... (Score:2)
  
  by NeoBeans (591740) *
  
  ...until your post. Granted, I've always wondered if they ever found someone with the kahunas to ride that thing flat-out!
- Re:how about (Score:2)
  
  by Locke2005 (849178)
  
  Umm... it be a little difficult to play Tron with these, since there is only one of them... and by the way, anything over about 750cc is overpowered, since you are limited by the traction of a very narrow strip of your rear tire, not by power/weight ratio. The Tomohawk would need about a 3 foot wide rear tire to deliver that torque to the road, not the 2 skinny motorcycle tires it has. Also, can a vehicle using 4 motorcycle tires really be considered a motorcyle? They claim an "estimated top speed of 300+ m
  - - - Re:how about (Score:3, Interesting)
        
        by cloudmaster (10662)
        
        The coefficient of friction for a tire is based on the size of the contact patch, though, and therefore the force due to friction (aka, "traction") is indeed related to the size of the contact patch. Mu is not a constant.
        
        Find some sticky motorcycle tires and put them on the back of my 412 HP car, and tell me that they hook up better than (or as well as) the 11" wide tires that are on it now. Well, after the motorcycle tires go up in a cloud of smoke after one hard launch, that is.
      - Re:how about (Score:3, Informative)
        
        by jericho4.0 (565125)
        
        Static friction, espcially for gummy tires. But the real driver for tire size in HP tires is heat dissapation.
- Re:how about (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by Barryke (772876)
  
  (..)
  Mummunah
  
  I thought you meant one of these [pensfans.com]
New use for the phrase? (Score:4, Funny)

by PornMaster (749461) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:23PM (#13037884) Homepage

I'm sorry, but I don't know how one could squish the phrase "clever hack" enough to make it fit this activity.
- Re:New use for the phrase? (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by NoData (9132)
  
  When you take the groundbreaking physics of a novel force field projector, and jam it up yer ass just to get a trailing wall of impenetrable light shooting out yer anus, you better believe it's a hack!
  
  That is what they did, right?
  
  Maybe I should read TFA...
- Re:New use for the phrase? (Score:4, Funny)
  
  by tktk (540564) on Monday July 11 2005, @07:00PM (#13038135)
  
  How about:
  The firemen will have to use a clever hack to pull you from the wreckage.
  
  Parent
Link to a mirror (Score:5, Informative)

by kdark1701 (791894) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:23PM (#13037887) Homepage

Slashdotted already. http://www.mirrordot.org/stories/5dcc252f0f43fc6f2 52db1df395c93a7/index.html [mirrordot.org]
awesome*2 (Score:4, Funny)

by 834r9394557r011 (878286) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:23PM (#13037888) Homepage Journal

Totally cool. I mean if i was so inclined to get hit by a bus looking at a blue line.
Hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)

by TWX (665546) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:24PM (#13037897)

I'm usually all in favor of life imitating art, but I don't see how this could get accurate enough to be truly entertaining.

By contrast, some 20 friends of mine were playing Laser Tag in a park after dark, and someone living in the area called the cops and said that there was a gang war going on, and something like 40 units descended on the park. They were ultimately let go that evening from the scene, but that had to be fun...
- Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
  
  by comzen (830240)
  
  Don't try this (or anything that get 40 police units swooping on you)! It only takes one "oops" on the part of a cop to put a 38 slug in your skull.
- Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
  
  by Spy der Mann (805235)
  
  and someone living in the area called the cops and said that there was a gang war going on
  
  Funny, that's exactly what the neighbor said last time we played Dungeons n Dragons in my appartment.
- Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Informative)
  
  by HyPeR_aCtIvE (10878)
  
  Same thing happened to me back when I was a kid. We'd regularly get a dozen or so of us together to play lazer tag around an elementary school/public playground that was next to a friend's house.
  
  One night the cops were called. Granted this was a small town, and the number of cops was 2 ... and they weren't really believing the old lady about 'people shooting each other'.
  
  So when they arrived, we got the 'So, what's going on here' discussion. We explained, they chuckled a bit, and asked us to call it a
- OT:Hmmm... (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by RangerRick98 (817838)
  
  That reminds me of the time the local LUG I belong to decided to see how far we could stretch a wireless mesh network in the business complex. Someone working in one of the warehouses saw a bunch of people walking around with laptops at night and got nervous.
  
  Two cop cars showed up about halfway into it. You could see it in their faces when they pulled up. "Oh, this is just some geek meeting, nothing to worry about here." :)
Darwin Natural Selection? (Score:5, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2005, @06:25PM (#13037901)

Gee, talking on a cell phone while driving is safe, so using a keyboard and mouse while staring at a display while riding a bicycle in city traffic must be really safe, eh?
The second outdoor video game (Score:5, Interesting)

by technoextreme (885694) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:28PM (#13037923)

I noticed that this is the second video game that has been retrofitted for outdoors. Pac man was the first one that I know of. I wonder how many of these games can actually be made for the outdoors.http://www.pacmanhattan.com/about.php [pacmanhattan.com]
- Re:The second outdoor video game (Score:3, Insightful)
  
  by barkingcorndog (629651)
  
  I've always enjoyed going over to I-5 to play Frogger. It gets the adrenaline going, it is impossible to cheat, and you find out very quickly when you lose.
- Re:The second outdoor video game (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by c0bw3b (530842) <airosche.comcast@net> on Monday July 11 2005, @07:55PM (#13038428) Homepage
  
  Hey! How about Grand Theft.. oh nevermind.
  
  Parent
I'd like to see... (Score:4, Funny)

by kurbchekt (890891) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:28PM (#13037924)

One of these fools pull one of those ninety-degree turns like in the movie... End of line.
Other interesting (but failed) video game hacks (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2005, @06:29PM (#13037929)

I tried doing real-life pac-man with a yellow highlighter and some altoids. Didn't go so well.

I tried Donkey Kong with a fake moustache, a mallet, and my local zoo. Didn't go so well either.

I tried yelling "hadouken" after throwing a bowling ball wrapped in a lit kerosene-doused rag. The neighbor kid thought it was pretty cool.

I pulled on the passenger door of a cop car, and as he tried to go after me, I went to the drivers' side to try to floor it. I yelled "It's CJ, foo!" I forget, I was either busted or wasted...and nobody thought it was cool.

I think next I'm going to re-create Hitman: Contracts by shaving my head, and getting good with a shotgun.
- Pfft... (Score:2)
  
  by Spy der Mann (805235)
  
  I pulled on the passenger door of a cop car... and nobody thought it was cool.
  
  Gee, and I thought I was crazy trying to climb skyscrapers a-la Prince of Persia...
Check out the green line player (Score:3, Funny)

by XXIstCenturyBoy (617054) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:29PM (#13037935)

The green line player is just too scary for me. He can hack a live Tron device AND go all the way around town on a bicycle? That guy went around his 2 other friends, and the long way round at that.

/Welcome my new super intelligent, super fit overlord! I hope he is not the next nerd evolution.
GPS games (Score:5, Interesting)

by centauri (217890) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:29PM (#13037937) Homepage

My GPS (Garmin eTrex C) came loaded with several GPS-based games. One is a single-player lightcycles-esque game in which you run to spots to collect points whilst trying not to cross your own trail.

The other games feature a maze, a pair-matching game a la Concentration, a Whack-a-mole type game, and an asteroids clone. I've been a little leery of trying them, lest I be arrested for wacky behavior in a public area.
20lbs of stuff! (Score:2)

by EvilStein (414640)

My god, with all that crap strapped to you, you'd be lucky to get the bike moving at all. It'd be like bumper cars for senior citizens. How.. uh, not exciting. :)
- Re:20lbs of stuff! (Score:2)
  
  by flithm (756019)
  
  Yeah I was thinking the same thing.
  
  I thought maybe a better, and more fun way would be to use a GPS and wifi equipped PDA. Just tape the sucker to the handle bars. Of course you'd limit yourself to the largest wifi area around, but if you pick say the university campus, you'd have more than enough room to play a sweet game.
  
  Also much cheaper. Could even use any old school bluetooth enabled PDA and bluetooth GPS adapter.
1 thing missing.. (Score:2)

by demonic-halo (652519)

Need a image projector to project an augmented reality light wall for you to see so you can avoid crashing into them.

It wouldn't be a fast game if they players have to keep peeking inside their backpacks to avoid crashing.
Critical flaw in game!!! (Score:5, Funny)

by RootsLINUX (854452) <rootslinux@@@gmail...com> on Monday July 11 2005, @06:41PM (#13037997) Homepage

It relies on human-powered vehicles. We all know that anyone who is cool/stupid (pick one) enough to play this game is not going to have the stamina it requires. They'll all pedal about 30 feet before they fall off their bikes and pass out on the sidewalk.
you have to wear the suits. (Score:5, Funny)

by intro (896028) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:41PM (#13037999)

They are missing a VERY important part of Tron. You HAVE to wear the suits! [tronguy.net]
Just so long... (Score:3, Funny)

by segfault7375 (135849) on Monday July 11 2005, @06:44PM (#13038021)

Just so long as I don't have to wear one of these suits [tronguy.net]

*shudder*
- - Re:Just so long... (Score:3)
    
    by Jay Maynard (54798)
    
    Indeed. I was wondering if the group would make up its collective mind.
    
    FWIW, I wouldn't wear the costume on a bicycle...too easy to damage it, and I've only got the one, still.
Cellphone version (Score:5, Informative)

by Rufus211 (221883) <rufus-slashdot AT hackish DOT org> on Monday July 11 2005, @06:52PM (#13038081) Homepage

A far more elegant version is available for cell phones, so you don't have to have a whole laptop setup.

http://datenmafia.org/gpstron/index-english.php [datenmafia.org]
But then what about the virtual me? (Score:2)

by jockm (233372)

If I can play light cycles in real life, then what is my virtual self doing? Sitting on the couch eating BBQ potato chips? This is all so confusing, won't the MCP set all of this straight?
Meanwhile, in the computer world... (Score:2, Informative)

by Luke-Jr (574047)

The computer game [sf.net] prepares for version 0.2.8 [sytes.net], featuring support for non-square arenas [utopios.org].
And laugh as they call the bomb squad. (Score:5, Insightful)

by Picass0 (147474) <shadowman99@@@levania...org> on Monday July 11 2005, @07:36PM (#13038323) Homepage Journal

Cop #1: "Hey, did you see that guy on a bike rushing towards that crowd with wires hanging out of his backpack?"

*POP*

Cop #2: "Got 'im"
If you've seen the movie: (Score:4, Funny)

by sker (467551) on Monday July 11 2005, @10:22PM (#13039117) Homepage Journal

Sark to conscripts: "You will each receive.. an identity disk! .. and a keyboard
and an LCD screen
and a mobile phone
GPS
err and a RS232 cable
Oh fuck and a backpack to carry it all in

Where was I? Oh yeah...

Every thing you do, or learn will be imprinted on this disk!"
It's cool because... (Score:3, Funny)

by BonoLeBonobo (798671) on Tuesday July 12 2005, @03:19AM (#13040176) Homepage

... police motorbikes are gonna play Tron with you !

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Tron Lightcycles, in Real Life

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No thank you (Score:5, Funny)

Re:No thank you (Score:5, Insightful)

Re:No thank you (Score:3, Informative)

Re:No thank you (Score:5, Informative)

Maybe not (Score:5, Funny)

exercise is good (Score:5, Funny)

Re:exercise is good (Score:5, Funny)

Re:exercise is good (Score:2)

Re:exercise is good (Score:4, Funny)

Re:exercise is good (Score:5, Funny)

Re:exercise is good (Score:4, Funny)

Re:exercise is good (Score:2, Funny)

how about (Score:5, Interesting)

I'd forgotten how cool the Dodge Tomahawk was... (Score:2)

Re:how about (Score:2)

Re:how about (Score:3, Interesting)

Re:how about (Score:3, Informative)

Re:how about (Score:3, Funny)

New use for the phrase? (Score:4, Funny)

Re:New use for the phrase? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:New use for the phrase? (Score:4, Funny)

Link to a mirror (Score:5, Informative)

awesome*2 (Score:4, Funny)

Hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)

Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)

Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Informative)

OT:Hmmm... (Score:3, Funny)

Darwin Natural Selection? (Score:5, Insightful)

The second outdoor video game (Score:5, Interesting)

Re:The second outdoor video game (Score:3, Insightful)

Re:The second outdoor video game (Score:5, Funny)

I'd like to see... (Score:4, Funny)

Other interesting (but failed) video game hacks (Score:5, Funny)

Pfft... (Score:2)

Check out the green line player (Score:3, Funny)

GPS games (Score:5, Interesting)

20lbs of stuff! (Score:2)

Re:20lbs of stuff! (Score:2)

1 thing missing.. (Score:2)

Critical flaw in game!!! (Score:5, Funny)

you have to wear the suits. (Score:5, Funny)

Just so long... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Just so long... (Score:3)

Cellphone version (Score:5, Informative)

But then what about the virtual me? (Score:2)

Meanwhile, in the computer world... (Score:2, Informative)

And laugh as they call the bomb squad. (Score:5, Insightful)

If you've seen the movie: (Score:4, Funny)

It's cool because... (Score:3, Funny)

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